Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 664: Severely outnumbered, significantly outmatched

Aristophon let out a sigh as he stared at the approaching tide of reddish brown, composed of armed men, cryptids, machines and even mutants.

All were led by a single man and a man he considered a rival, General Agrios of Ephodosia, a man said to have never known defeat in combat.

His exploits included repelling a mobile city filled with barbarians accompanied by merely 300 men and a couple of mutants.

He was regarded as a man who excelled at crushing his enemies without mercy, ensuring that they despaired while realizing the difference between them and him.

A frightening foe indeed and currently, a member of the aggressor states.

Against such a person, Aristophon felt like he was faced with a high wall, one so insurmountable that the thought of giving up tugged at the back of his mind.

Riding on his Pegasus, a unique mutant that appeared as a horse with wings, horns, and tentacle-like whiskers, Aristophon pondered just how he could take on Agrios without dying.

Apart from the fact that Agrios had an army of ten thousand, compared to his measly three thousand, Aristophon didn’t dare to think he could win in a head on battle.

However, their current location made it impossible to harass the enemy using guerrilla tactics.

His only other option was to retreat, but that would earn him no favors with the defenders, which he was a part of.

He was sent here to protect the Quillion mines as it was one of the largest in the defender’s territory, and losing it would not end well for his faction.

The reasoning behind this was simple.

Of all the resources available within the continent of Henos, Quillion was perhaps the most important one.

It was what allowed the continent to serve as the sole one in which its greatest national power was not ruled by a Mystic, giving mere humans a chance to compete with the supernatural and all it entailed.

This was why, one of how a city state’s strength was measured was by how many Quillion mines it had.

Pheripolis was the only city state that had no mine within its territory but that didn’t change the fact that it served as the only port that Quillion could be shipped to other continents, allowing it to maintain a certain amount of prestige even without the mines.

In any case, with the War between the aggressors and the defenders, it became paramount that to win, one needed to conquer the Quillion mines held by the other party, this way, they would be rendered increasingly defenseless to the machinations of the supernatural, most of which were capable of ending a battle in so quick a manner, it left the enemy no chance to fight back.

Agrios was sent to capture the mine and Aristophon was tasked with defending it.

And so, there could be no retreat.

One must stand, and the other must fall; that was the only way things could end.

"Onward!" Aristophon ordered as he led his men forward.

He couldn’t allow Agrios to meet him at his own pace as the latter was quite good at setting the pace.

He also couldn’t attack blindly as that would be the same as offering himself on a platter.

So he needed to be careful, keeping the balance between not hurrying to his death and also not waiting for it.

As the defenders moved forward at a steady pace and Agrios led the aggressors without a single care in the world, Alex and Victoria found themselves hiding in a shallow gully nearby.

"Master, why did we stop?... If I continue running with you, we should be able to escape the battlefield before it’s too late." Victoria remarked as Alex focused his attention on the two armies.

"Wait a while," Alex said, unwilling to say more.

The reason behind not running away was because of the Trial he had to complete.

So far, Alex had come up with a few hypotheses on how to go about completing the Trial, but he couldn’t be sure if they were correct so with no choice, he had to put them to the test.

Only then would he be sure if his thoughts were in the right place?

Just as he was contemplating how to go about doing so, Agrios, of the aggressors, made the first move.

Several juggernauts, frightening mutants that appeared as ridiculously large apes without fur and three pairs of arms, stepped out of the main army, before frantically charging towards the defenders in a mad dash.

Before Aristophon could respond, Agrios followed this up by ordering his men to unleash cannon fire, giving their enemies no option but to choose between either stopping the cannon fire or the armored juggernauts.

"We are going to join the fight," Alex remarked as he watched Aristophon order his army to separate, in a bid to reduce the amount of damage from the cannons while focusing on dealing with the approaching mutants.

Victoria hesitated on hearing Alex’s audacious declaration. "Are you sure of this, Master?... Neither of us has engaged in such large-scale conflict, and with the Quillion field around this area, supernatural powers would be impeded."

"I’m aware."

"Yet..."

"You wait here." Alex said, quite aware that Victoria was merely scared for their lives. "I will return shortly."

"Master." Victoria said as she reached out instinctively and grabbed Alex’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry, I am the last person that would want to die. However, there’s no better time to test what I have in mind. So wait here."

With that, Alex returned his attention to the battlefield just as the first round of cannon fire ended, resulting in casualties for Aristophon and his army, though they managed to deal with the juggernauts.

Unfortunately for them, Agrios was just getting started.